Spacesuits in fiction
Encyclopedia
Science fiction
authors have designed imaginary spacesuits for their characters almost since the beginning of fiction
set in space
.
Often, comic book creators seem unaware of the effects of internal pressure
which tends to inflate a spacesuit in vacuum
, and draw their imaginary spacesuits as hanging in folds like a boilersuit; this can often be seen in the Dan Dare
stories, where the artist often drew from actual or photographed posed actors. Many space story writers merely mention a "spacesuit" without considering or describing design details, in the same way as they mention a raygun
or a spaceship
without considering how its mechanism would work.
The breathing apparatus which is part of the Primary Life Support System
of real space suit
s is always a rebreather
type system. However, in illustrations in fiction such as comics, a spacesuit's life support system is often largely composed of two big backpack cylinders, as if it was open circuit; at least one fictional scenario has liquid breathing
spacesuits.
From Edison's Conquest of Mars
(1898):
This illustration of the suit appears to be skintight (note the wrinkles), and to have a soft hood with a built-in fullface mask, rather than a hard helmet, although according to the story the suits had helmets.
This common early idea for a spacesuit would have not worked in reality for several reasons:
Skintight spacesuits (skinsuits) appear in the original Buck Rogers
comics
published from 1928 on. This comic was so popular that expressions such as "Buck Rogers outfit" for real protective suits that look somewhat like spacesuits entered into common usage.
With the rise of the Science fiction pulp magazine
s in the 1920s many depictions of imaginary spacesuits were created from scratch by artists such as Frank R. Paul
, often appearing on the covers of the magazines. Very often these artists' creations were absurd, with such errors as a helmet whose neck hole is too narrow for the head to get through.
Often fictional spacesuits are drawn with two large backpack cylinders as their only life-support gear, as if the exhaled gas is vented to space as in an ordinary open-circuit scuba set
.
The Lensman series by E.E. "Doc" Smith features armored spacesuits used in hand to hand combat. Some especially heavily armored spacesuits in the series use motors to help the wearer move about.
, fictional spacesuits were influenced both by the real life pressure suit
s and G-suits which had seen use during the war for high-altitude aviation and also by the speculative articles on space travel which were published in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's Weekly
by such space pioneers as Wernher von Braun
and Willy Ley
and which featured carefully considered spacesuit designs.
and afterwards.
In H.G. Wells's original novel, The First Men in the Moon
, published in 1901, the Moon has a breathable atmosphere during its two-week long day and spacesuits are not needed; the spacecraft has an airtight hatch, but no airlock.
In the film version
, made in 1964, the Moon has no atmosphere and no surface vegetation. Two types of spacesuits are featured.
comic series, which started in April 1950 in the "Eagle
" comic, the standard Spacefleet spacesuit had no backpack, had a corselet as per Standard Diving Dress
, and its life-support system was stated to be between the layers of a double-walled helmet.http://www.fpigraphics.co.uk/blogger/Dan%20DAre%20spacesuit.jpg The spacesuits used in the Dan Dare scenario "Operation Saturn" by the villain Blasco are a different design and have small life-support backpacks. The Dan Dare stories also show various alien spacesuits.
Author Robert A. Heinlein
's novel Have Space Suit—Will Travel (1958) drew both on these contemporary articles and on his experience designing pressure suits during World War II and featured a detailed description of a very realistic space suit with constant volume joints and fixed helmet and shoulder yoke, which was entered through a frontal gasket
ed zipper
(similar to that in a drysuit).
Front cover illustrations (one shown here, one linked to in its caption) for the novel obviously inspired by contemporary diving apparatus show its life-support backpack as a correctly-drawn old-type open-circuit two-cylinder aqualung
as used for scuba diving
with manifold and large round regulator
and A-clamp. The artist avoided the error found in most comic-strip drawings of old-type aqualungs, of drawing each breathing tube coming directly from a cylinder top and no regulator. But to make this type of aqualung (as shown here) work in space, its regulator
's existing perforated "wet-side" cover would have to be replaced by a sealed cover with a spring-loaded exit valve to keep a breathable pressure on the "wet" side of the regulator disphragm. And the whole breathing system would have to be checked for leaks which would be harmless in scuba diving but would blow in space vacuum.
The spacesuits in these drawings differ much, but all depict the helmet base as being wide enough for the wearer to get it on over his head, showing that their artists had paid little attention to the writer's detailed descriptions.
In a description of the spacesuit Heinlein appears to be confused about the various effects of oxygen toxicity
and bends
and nitrogen narcosis
.
Heinlein's description of pressure regulation came very close to the experience of astronauts in the Apollo program. His characters preferred to keep the pressure of their suits just high enough for survival, but not high enough to make it difficult to move around, much like the selected design pressure range of the real Apollo A7L suits.
The life support system of the suits in Have Space Suit—Will Travel was very similar to the backup Oxygen Purge System on the real Apollo Primary Life Support System
. The only major difference being that the Apollo suits had a largely automatic pressure regulator, and Heinlein's suit had manual pressure regulation.
One major component of modern pressure suit Primary Life Support System
backpacks which he missed was the lithium hydroxide
canister which absorbs carbon dioxide
from the air in the suit: see rebreather
. Without this, his suit's breathing apparatus would have to be open circuit and limited to approximately two hours on a filling of oxygen
or air, with the time varying according to exertion and cylinder size and his body size.
Another was the cooling system. He correctly recognised that overheating would be a major problem for the wearer of the suit. His cooling system was the same as the Apollo oxygen purge system: waste oxygen by letting it flow at a high rate and use it to dump heat. In practice, real suits used a water supply feeding a sublimator to provide cooling.
In The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
the suits are strongly influenced by experience in the space program. He correctly describes a technique for helping an injured man in a pressure suit by decompressing the suit for less than a minute. Earlier books such as Rocket Ship Galileo
described horrible injuries for people decompressed for short times.
In The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein has people going onto the moon surface for about half a day in daylight and suffering from radiation exposure. In practice, overheating was the biggest risk of lunar surface operations, and cooling systems were easy to build.
, published in 1961, shows a typical science-fiction open-circuit design with two large backpack cylinders instead of a modern life-support pack.
, and the first space missions, fictional spacesuits tended to follow real spacesuit design, including such features as a large rectangular backpack to hold life support components, except in low-budget science fiction movies and comics which were still inspired more by imagination than by reality.
, the prop
and costume
designers stated a need to avoid "the standard outer-space stuff ... that sort of NASA look".
The Gerry Anderson
UFO
series of the late 1960s/early 1970s features two types of spacesuit:
The design of the alien spacesuits was revised during filming; in some episodes they are partly covered with bright metallic chainmail
, and in some they are as per the image shown. The studio which made the series seems to have had only two alien spacesuit costumes. In the episode Ordeal where two aliens carry a human (Foster) who is in an alien spacesuit, one of the aliens has to be out of shot, or else 3 alien spacesuits would have been needed. The helmet splits into front and back halves to get it on over his head.
anime
metaseries, but are often renamed to avoid confusion with space-use mobile suits. In the Universal Century
timeline, spacesuits are called "normal suits"; the After Colony timeline calls them "astrosuit". Two types of spacesuit are frequently seen - as well as the more traditional bulky style, mobile suit pilots wear a thinner, lighter suit, better designed for operating a mobile suit's controls. Gundam spacesuits often have a pouch full of adhesive strips, used to temporarily seal tears in the suit (as demonstrated in Mobile Suit Gundam
) or cracks in the helmet (as demonstrated in Char's Counterattack).
features a type of spacesuit known as a SERUN, for Semi-Reconstituent Recycling Unit. This suit contains advanced recycling systems that can provide the necessary oxygen, water, and food to keep the inhabitant alive for weeks. It also contains a sophisticated computerized medical treatment system, antigrav units for propulsion, and a generator for a defense screen.
or mechanical counterpressure suit, make this type of space suit an attractive choice for fiction, where flexibility of use can be a boon to plot development.
Some space story writers whose work mentions flexible skin-tight spacesuits include:
(the second volume of their Stardance
trilogy) and John Varley
's short story Equinoctial (from his collection Picnic on Nearside) both feature alien
symbiotes which act as living space suits, supplying their wearer with oxygen and recycling waste gases and deriving their energy from solar power
. James Blish's 'How Beautiful With Banners' features a spacesuit formed from the protein coat of a genetically-modified virus. The suit is able to be controlled by small electrical impulses, supplied by a control box mounted on the wearer's belt.
TV series (1966–1969), mostly due to television budget constraints. They play a more significant part in several of the movies- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
(1979), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
(1982), Star Trek: First Contact
(1996)- and several episodes of the TV series Star Trek Voyager (1995–2001). Space suits are far more frequently used in the prequel
series Star Trek Enterprise (2001–2005), though they also doubled as environmental-hazard suits.
Spacesuits appear in all the original Star Wars
movies, but only used by pilots of fighter
-type spacecraft
. Spacesuits used outside spacecraft occur in some Star Wars novel
s and comics.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
authors have designed imaginary spacesuits for their characters almost since the beginning of fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
set in space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
.
Often, comic book creators seem unaware of the effects of internal pressure
Pressure
Pressure is the force per unit area applied in a direction perpendicular to the surface of an object. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure.- Definition :...
which tends to inflate a spacesuit in vacuum
Vacuum
In everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in...
, and draw their imaginary spacesuits as hanging in folds like a boilersuit; this can often be seen in the Dan Dare
Dan Dare
Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories, that is, the Venus and Red Moon stories, and a complete storyline for Operation Saturn...
stories, where the artist often drew from actual or photographed posed actors. Many space story writers merely mention a "spacesuit" without considering or describing design details, in the same way as they mention a raygun
Raygun
Rayguns are a type of fictional directed-energy weapon. They have various alternate names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, phaser, etc. They are a well-known feature of science fiction; for such stories they typically have the general function of guns...
or a spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
without considering how its mechanism would work.
The breathing apparatus which is part of the Primary Life Support System
Primary Life Support System
A Primary Life Support System , is a device connected to an astronaut's or cosmonaut's spacesuit, which allows extra-vehicular activity with maximum freedom, independent of a spacecraft's life support system. The PLSS is generally worn like a backpack...
of real space suit
Space suit
A space suit is a garment worn to keep an astronaut alive in the harsh environment of outer space. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extra-vehicular activity , work done outside spacecraft...
s is always a rebreather
Rebreather
A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where...
type system. However, in illustrations in fiction such as comics, a spacesuit's life support system is often largely composed of two big backpack cylinders, as if it was open circuit; at least one fictional scenario has liquid breathing
Liquid breathing
Liquid breathing is a form of respiration in which a normally air-breathing organism breathes an oxygen-rich liquid , rather than breathing air....
spacesuits.
Edison's Conquest of Mars
Edison's Conquest of Mars
Edison's Conquest of Mars, by Garrett P. Serviss, is one of the many science fiction novels published in the 19th century. Although science fiction was not at the time thought of as a distinct literary genre, it was a very popular literary form, with almost every fiction magazine regularly...
(1898):
This illustration of the suit appears to be skintight (note the wrinkles), and to have a soft hood with a built-in fullface mask, rather than a hard helmet, although according to the story the suits had helmets.
This common early idea for a spacesuit would have not worked in reality for several reasons:
- The suits have no constant volume joints to prevent the suits from ballooning under their interior pressure.
- The suits have no gloveGloveA glove is a garment covering the hand. Gloves have separate sheaths or openings for each finger and the thumb; if there is an opening but no covering sheath for each finger they are called "fingerless gloves". Fingerless gloves with one large opening rather than individual openings for each...
s. - The rubberized material of a diving suit would have quickly become brittle due to loss of volatiles in space vacuum; and also due to cold making the rubber brittle when out of sunlight, if they radiate heat away faster than the spaceman's body heat warms them.
Skintight spacesuits (skinsuits) appear in the original Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers
Anthony Rogers is a fictional character that first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue....
comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
published from 1928 on. This comic was so popular that expressions such as "Buck Rogers outfit" for real protective suits that look somewhat like spacesuits entered into common usage.
With the rise of the Science fiction pulp magazine
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
s in the 1920s many depictions of imaginary spacesuits were created from scratch by artists such as Frank R. Paul
Frank R. Paul
Frank Rudolph Paul was an illustrator of US pulp magazines in the science fiction field. He was born in Vienna, Austria and died at his home in Teaneck, New Jersey....
, often appearing on the covers of the magazines. Very often these artists' creations were absurd, with such errors as a helmet whose neck hole is too narrow for the head to get through.
Often fictional spacesuits are drawn with two large backpack cylinders as their only life-support gear, as if the exhaled gas is vented to space as in an ordinary open-circuit scuba set
Scuba set
A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during scuba diving. It is much used for sport diving and some sorts of work diving....
.
The Lensman series by E.E. "Doc" Smith features armored spacesuits used in hand to hand combat. Some especially heavily armored spacesuits in the series use motors to help the wearer move about.
After World War II
Following World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, fictional spacesuits were influenced both by the real life pressure suit
Pressure suit
A pressure suit is a protective suit worn by high-altitude pilots who may fly at altitudes where the air pressure is too low for an unprotected person to survive, even breathing pure oxygen at positive pressure. Such suits may be either full-pressure or partial-pressure...
s and G-suits which had seen use during the war for high-altitude aviation and also by the speculative articles on space travel which were published in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. With the passage of decades, the title was shortened to Collier's....
by such space pioneers as Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
and Willy Ley
Willy Ley
Willy Ley was a German-American science writer and space advocate who helped popularize rocketry and spaceflight in both Germany and the United States. The crater Ley on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor.-Life:...
and which featured carefully considered spacesuit designs.
In films
Some early space travel fiction films showed characters in spacesuits much more often than Star TrekStar Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
and afterwards.
The First Men in the Moon
The First Men in the Moon
The First Men in the Moon is a 1901 scientific romance novel by the English author H. G. Wells. The novel tells the story of a journey to the moon undertaken by the two protagonists, the impoverished businessman Mr Bedford and the brilliant but eccentric scientist Dr. Cavor...
, published in 1901, the Moon has a breathable atmosphere during its two-week long day and spacesuits are not needed; the spacecraft has an airtight hatch, but no airlock.
First Men in the Moon
First Men in the Moon, also known as H.G. Wells' First Men in the Moon, is a 1964 science fiction film directed by Nathan Juran. It is an adaptation by the noted science-fiction scriptwriter Nigel Kneale of the H. G...
, made in 1964, the Moon has no atmosphere and no surface vegetation. Two types of spacesuits are featured.
- During the events of the story which take place in the 1890s, standard diving dressStandard diving dressA standard diving dress consists of a metallic diving helmet, an airline or hose from a surface supplied diving air pump, a canvas diving suit, diving knife and boots...
es, each fitted with a 1960s type aqualung cylinder worn on the back, are used as spacesuits. No provision is made to prevent the suits from ballooning in the vacuum, or to protect the hands from the vacuum. - The film depicts the 1960s astronaut spacesuits as close copies of a British high-altitude pressure suit of the sort intended to be used aboard the TSR-1 and fitted with a 1960s-type aqualungAqua-lungAqua-Lung was the original name of the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing set in reaching worldwide popularity and commercial success...
cylinder instead of the NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
-type life supportLife supportLife support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...
backpack which came into common usage a few years after the movie was made.
Dan Dare
In the Dan DareDan Dare
Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories, that is, the Venus and Red Moon stories, and a complete storyline for Operation Saturn...
comic series, which started in April 1950 in the "Eagle
Eagle (comic)
Eagle was a seminal British children's comic, first published from 1950 to 1969, and then in a relaunched format from 1982 to 1994. It was founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican vicar from Lancashire. Morris edited a parish magazine called The Anvil, but felt that the church was not communicating...
" comic, the standard Spacefleet spacesuit had no backpack, had a corselet as per Standard Diving Dress
Standard diving dress
A standard diving dress consists of a metallic diving helmet, an airline or hose from a surface supplied diving air pump, a canvas diving suit, diving knife and boots...
, and its life-support system was stated to be between the layers of a double-walled helmet.http://www.fpigraphics.co.uk/blogger/Dan%20DAre%20spacesuit.jpg The spacesuits used in the Dan Dare scenario "Operation Saturn" by the villain Blasco are a different design and have small life-support backpacks. The Dan Dare stories also show various alien spacesuits.
Have Space Suit, Will Travel
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
's novel Have Space Suit—Will Travel (1958) drew both on these contemporary articles and on his experience designing pressure suits during World War II and featured a detailed description of a very realistic space suit with constant volume joints and fixed helmet and shoulder yoke, which was entered through a frontal gasket
Gasket
thumb|sright|250px|Some seals and gaskets1. [[o-ring]]2. fiber [[Washer |washer]]3. paper gaskets4. [[cylinder head]] [[head gasket|gasket]]...
ed zipper
Zipper
A zipper is a commonly used device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric...
(similar to that in a drysuit).
Front cover illustrations (one shown here, one linked to in its caption) for the novel obviously inspired by contemporary diving apparatus show its life-support backpack as a correctly-drawn old-type open-circuit two-cylinder aqualung
Aqua-lung
Aqua-Lung was the original name of the first open-circuit free-swimming underwater breathing set in reaching worldwide popularity and commercial success...
as used for scuba diving
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
with manifold and large round regulator
Diving regulator
A diving regulator is a pressure regulator used in scuba or surface supplied diving equipment that reduces pressurized breathing gas to ambient pressure and delivers it to the diver. The gas may be air or one of a variety of specially blended breathing gases...
and A-clamp. The artist avoided the error found in most comic-strip drawings of old-type aqualungs, of drawing each breathing tube coming directly from a cylinder top and no regulator. But to make this type of aqualung (as shown here) work in space, its regulator
Diving regulator
A diving regulator is a pressure regulator used in scuba or surface supplied diving equipment that reduces pressurized breathing gas to ambient pressure and delivers it to the diver. The gas may be air or one of a variety of specially blended breathing gases...
's existing perforated "wet-side" cover would have to be replaced by a sealed cover with a spring-loaded exit valve to keep a breathable pressure on the "wet" side of the regulator disphragm. And the whole breathing system would have to be checked for leaks which would be harmless in scuba diving but would blow in space vacuum.
- On the first image the breathing tubes run to a control panel on his chest, and the regulator can be seen. The image shows two spacesuits, whose helmets differ. One has a worklight on top; the other has two worklights, one on each side, and on top what is intended to represent a radio spike antenna and microwave horn antenna (two different antennas are also shown in a second book illustration, though the "microwave horn" antenna is incorrectly drawn attached by its wide end like an animal horn, instead of the correct musical-horn-like shape of a microwave horn antenna).
- On the second image the breathing tubes run to each side of the "chin" of his helmet, and the regulator is hidden behind his head.
The spacesuits in these drawings differ much, but all depict the helmet base as being wide enough for the wearer to get it on over his head, showing that their artists had paid little attention to the writer's detailed descriptions.
Oxygen toxicity
Oxygen toxicity is a condition resulting from the harmful effects of breathing molecular oxygen at elevated partial pressures. It is also known as oxygen toxicity syndrome, oxygen intoxication, and oxygen poisoning...
and bends
Decompression sickness
Decompression sickness describes a condition arising from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurization...
and nitrogen narcosis
Nitrogen narcosis
Narcosis while diving , is a reversible alteration in consciousness that occurs while scuba diving at depth. The Greek word ναρκωσις is derived from narke, "temporary decline or loss of senses and movement, numbness", a term used by Homer and Hippocrates...
.
Heinlein's description of pressure regulation came very close to the experience of astronauts in the Apollo program. His characters preferred to keep the pressure of their suits just high enough for survival, but not high enough to make it difficult to move around, much like the selected design pressure range of the real Apollo A7L suits.
The life support system of the suits in Have Space Suit—Will Travel was very similar to the backup Oxygen Purge System on the real Apollo Primary Life Support System
Primary Life Support System
A Primary Life Support System , is a device connected to an astronaut's or cosmonaut's spacesuit, which allows extra-vehicular activity with maximum freedom, independent of a spacecraft's life support system. The PLSS is generally worn like a backpack...
. The only major difference being that the Apollo suits had a largely automatic pressure regulator, and Heinlein's suit had manual pressure regulation.
One major component of modern pressure suit Primary Life Support System
Primary Life Support System
A Primary Life Support System , is a device connected to an astronaut's or cosmonaut's spacesuit, which allows extra-vehicular activity with maximum freedom, independent of a spacecraft's life support system. The PLSS is generally worn like a backpack...
backpacks which he missed was the lithium hydroxide
Lithium hydroxide
Lithium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula LiOH. It is a white hygroscopic crystalline material. It is soluble in water and slightly soluble in ethanol...
canister which absorbs carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
from the air in the suit: see rebreather
Rebreather
A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuit breathing set for the same duration in environments where...
. Without this, his suit's breathing apparatus would have to be open circuit and limited to approximately two hours on a filling of oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
or air, with the time varying according to exertion and cylinder size and his body size.
Another was the cooling system. He correctly recognised that overheating would be a major problem for the wearer of the suit. His cooling system was the same as the Apollo oxygen purge system: waste oxygen by letting it flow at a high rate and use it to dump heat. In practice, real suits used a water supply feeding a sublimator to provide cooling.
In The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A Comedy of Manners is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1985. Like many of his later novels, it features Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw as supporting characters.-Plot summary:...
the suits are strongly influenced by experience in the space program. He correctly describes a technique for helping an injured man in a pressure suit by decompressing the suit for less than a minute. Earlier books such as Rocket Ship Galileo
Rocket Ship Galileo
Rocket Ship Galileo is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1947, about three teenagers who participate in a pioneering flight to the Moon. It was the first in the Heinlein juveniles, a long and successful series of science fiction novels published by Scribner's...
described horrible injuries for people decompressed for short times.
In The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, about a lunar colony's revolt against rule from Earth....
Heinlein has people going onto the moon surface for about half a day in daylight and suffering from radiation exposure. In practice, overheating was the biggest risk of lunar surface operations, and cooling systems were easy to build.
Perry Rhodan
The front cover of the first issue of the German space comic series Perry RhodanPerry Rhodan
Perry Rhodan is the name of a science fiction series published since 1961 in Germany, as well as the name of the main character. It is a space opera, dealing with several themes of science fiction. Having sold over one billion copies worldwide, it is the most successful science fiction book series...
, published in 1961, shows a typical science-fiction open-circuit design with two large backpack cylinders instead of a modern life-support pack.
Armored space suits
- Robert A. HeinleinRobert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
's novel Starship TroopersStarship TroopersStarship Troopers is a military science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first published as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and published hardcover in December, 1959.The first-person narrative is about a young soldier from the Philippines named Juan "Johnnie" Rico and his...
(1959) famously featured armored power-assisted spacesuit-like battlesuits used in combat. The suits are arguably one of the first examples of powered armor to be written of in American literature. The Japanese animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
OVA film Starship TroopersStarship Troopers (OVA)is a six part anime OVA produced by Sunrise/Bandai Visual and released in 1988. It is based on the book Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein that was published in 1959.-Production:...
(1988) based on the novel also used powered armor suits inspired by Heinlein's example, but they appeared differently and incorporated built-in weaponry. However, the 1997 filmStarship Troopers (film)Starship Troopers is a 1997 American military science fiction film, written by Edward Neumeier , directed by Paul Verhoeven, loosely adapted from Starship Troopers, a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It is the only theatrically released film in the Starship Troopers franchise...
's interpretation did not use powered armor, much to the consternation of the book's fans.
Self-sealing and limb-constriction suits
- In Ray BradburyRay BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
's short story Kaleidoscope (1949), used in The Illustrated ManThe Illustrated ManThe Illustrated Man is a 1951 book of eighteen science fiction short stories by Ray Bradbury that explores the nature of mankind. While none of the stories has a plot or character connection with the next, a recurring theme is the conflict of the cold mechanics of technology and the psychology of...
(1951) occurs one of the first uses of self-sealing spacesuits which automatically tourniquetTourniquetAn emergency tourniquet is a tightly tied band applied around a body part sometimes used in an attempt to stop severe traumatic bleeding. Tourniquets are also used during venipuncture and other medical procedures. Severe bleeding means the loss of more than 1,000 ml of blood. This flow of blood...
limbs to keep the wearer alive and pressurized, in cases of holes or amputations (in the story, occurring as a result of meteoroidMeteoroidA meteoroid is a sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System. The visible path of a meteoroid that enters Earth's atmosphere is called a meteor, or colloquially a shooting star or falling star. If a meteoroid reaches the ground and survives impact, then it is called a meteorite...
s in space).
- A self-repair style of suit is briefly mentioned in Stand on ZanzibarStand on ZanzibarStand on Zanzibar is a dystopian New Wave science fiction novel written by John Brunner and first published in 1968. The book won a Hugo Award for Best Novel at the 27th World Science Fiction Convention in 1969, as well as the 1969 BSFA Award and the 1973 Prix Tour-Apollo Award.-Description:A...
(1968) by John Brunner. Spacesuits used by lunar explorers feature 'decompression sphincters' that clamp down and seal off any areas of a spacesuit that suffer damage. Repair patches or returning to the base must be achieved quickly before anhydrous gangrene destroys the area exposed to vacuum.
- Joe HaldemanJoe HaldemanJoe William Haldeman is an American science fiction author.-Life :Haldeman was born June 9, 1943 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His family traveled and he lived in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Bethesda, Maryland and Anchorage, Alaska as a child. Haldeman married Mary Gay Potter, known...
's novel The Forever WarThe Forever WarThe Forever War is a science fiction novel by American author Joe Haldeman, telling the contemplative story of soldiers fighting an interstellar war between humanity and the enigmatic Tauran species...
(1974) featured armored vacuum combat suits which were similar in principle but more advanced in design. Because the novel takes place over the timespan of several hundred years, the evolution of the battle suits can be observed and commented on by the lead character throughout with new features introduced — such as emergency hydraulic-powered joints which sever the limb of a soldier and inject anesthetics & blood plasmaBlood plasmaBlood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
if enough damage is inflicted and a risk of decompression is apparent.
After first real space flights
After the establishment of NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, and the first space missions, fictional spacesuits tended to follow real spacesuit design, including such features as a large rectangular backpack to hold life support components, except in low-budget science fiction movies and comics which were still inspired more by imagination than by reality.
Dune film
During the production of the spacesuits and stillsuits for the film DuneDune (film)
Dune is a 1984 science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. The film stars Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, and includes an ensemble of well-known American and European actors in supporting roles. It was filmed at the Churubusco...
, the prop
Theatrical property
A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...
and costume
Costume
The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...
designers stated a need to avoid "the standard outer-space stuff ... that sort of NASA look".
Gerry Anderson UFO series
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
UFO
UFO (TV series)
UFO is a 1970-1971 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth, created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.UFO first aired in the UK and Canada...
series of the late 1960s/early 1970s features two types of spacesuit:
- Alien spacesuits, filled with a breathable liquidLiquid breathingLiquid breathing is a form of respiration in which a normally air-breathing organism breathes an oxygen-rich liquid , rather than breathing air....
to resist acceleration stresses on the occupant. - SHADO issue spacesuits.
The design of the alien spacesuits was revised during filming; in some episodes they are partly covered with bright metallic chainmail
Chainmail
Mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.-History:Mail was a highly successful type of armour and was used by nearly every metalworking culture....
, and in some they are as per the image shown. The studio which made the series seems to have had only two alien spacesuit costumes. In the episode Ordeal where two aliens carry a human (Foster) who is in an alien spacesuit, one of the aliens has to be out of shot, or else 3 alien spacesuits would have been needed. The helmet splits into front and back halves to get it on over his head.
- This behind-the-scenes photo shows the earlier (with chainmail) type of alien spacesuit, and a SHADO issue spacesuit.
- A photo showing a SHADO issue spacesuit
Gundam
Spacesuits are commonly used in the GundamGundam
The is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots called "Mobile Suits" ; usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name Gundam....
anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
metaseries, but are often renamed to avoid confusion with space-use mobile suits. In the Universal Century
Universal Century
is the original timeline of the Gundam anime metaseries. The official English name U.C. is often used instead in recent production like MS Igloo and Master Grade model instructions and official pages is the original timeline of the Gundam anime metaseries. The official English name U.C....
timeline, spacesuits are called "normal suits"; the After Colony timeline calls them "astrosuit". Two types of spacesuit are frequently seen - as well as the more traditional bulky style, mobile suit pilots wear a thinner, lighter suit, better designed for operating a mobile suit's controls. Gundam spacesuits often have a pouch full of adhesive strips, used to temporarily seal tears in the suit (as demonstrated in Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam
is a televised anime series, created by Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network on April 7, 1979, and lasted until January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes...
) or cracks in the helmet (as demonstrated in Char's Counterattack).
Perry Rhodan
The German pulp science fiction series Perry RhodanPerry Rhodan
Perry Rhodan is the name of a science fiction series published since 1961 in Germany, as well as the name of the main character. It is a space opera, dealing with several themes of science fiction. Having sold over one billion copies worldwide, it is the most successful science fiction book series...
features a type of spacesuit known as a SERUN, for Semi-Reconstituent Recycling Unit. This suit contains advanced recycling systems that can provide the necessary oxygen, water, and food to keep the inhabitant alive for weeks. It also contains a sophisticated computerized medical treatment system, antigrav units for propulsion, and a generator for a defense screen.
Skintight spacesuits
The potential for greater mobility and simpler operation with a skintight spacesuit, generally referred to as a space activity suitSpace activity suit
A space activity suit or mechanical counterpressure suit is an experimental spacesuit which applies stable pressure against the skin by means of skintight elastic garments. The SAS is not inflated like a conventional spacesuit: it uses mechanical pressure, rather than air pressure, to compress the...
or mechanical counterpressure suit, make this type of space suit an attractive choice for fiction, where flexibility of use can be a boon to plot development.
Some space story writers whose work mentions flexible skin-tight spacesuits include:
- The spacesuits in early Buck RogersBuck RogersAnthony Rogers is a fictional character that first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue....
comics seem to be skintight. - Jerry PournelleJerry PournelleJerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
, who has been extensively involved in analysis and design of space technology systems. Pournelle envisions a layered design where the inner flexible suit can be overlain with various kinds of thermal protection or armor, for protection against meteoroids or space battle damage, in the same way a flak jacketFlak jacketthumb|300px|The two components of an obsolete British military flak vest. On the left, the nylon vest. On the right, the several layers of [[ballistic nylon]] that provide the actual protection...
protects the occupants of a warplane. Skintight spacesuits first appeared in recent science fiction in Jerry PournelleJerry PournelleJerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
's story Exiles To Glory in 1977 - A. Bertram ChandlerA. Bertram ChandlerArthur Bertram Chandler was a British-Australian science fiction author. He also wrote under the pseudonyms George Whitley, George Whitely, Andrew Dunstan, and S.H.M....
. - Grant CallinGrant CallinGrant David Callin is part of the hard science fiction stream of authors. He sometimes goes by the pseudonym Flash Richardson....
's SaturnaliaSaturnaliaSaturnalia is an Ancient Roman festival/ celebration held in honour of Saturn , the youngest of the Titans, father of the major gods of the Greeks and Romans, and son of Uranus and Gaia...
and A Lion on Tharthee feature 'micropore suits' which use minute gas bubbles in foam rather than mechanical tension to provide counterpressure in vacuum. - Stephen BaxterStephen BaxterStephen Baxter is a prolific British hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering.- Writing style :...
's Manifold series, notably Manifold: TimeManifold: TimeManifold: Time is a 1999 science fiction novel by Stephen Baxter. It is the first of Baxter's Manifold trilogy , although the books can be read in any order because the series takes place in a multiverse.The book was nominated for the 2000 Arthur C...
, covers the technical aspects of using a skintight suit for short EVAs, including the need to don the suit without creasing to prevent embolisms. - In Larry NivenLarry NivenLaurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
's Known SpaceKnown SpaceKnown Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
, skintights are the preferred type of spacesuit used by belterBelter (Niven)In Larry Niven's fictional Known Space universe, a Belter refers to a resident of the Asteroid Belt around Sol, sometimes known as the Sol Belt to differentiate it from Alpha Centauri's Serpent Swarm....
s in the 22nd and 23rd century. They often decorated them with elaborate (and expensive) torso paintings as a form of heraldryHeraldryHeraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
. Pournelle's design in particular is featured in some of Niven's later RingworldRingworldRingworld is a Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. It is followed by three sequels, and preceded by four prequels, and ties into numerous other books set in Known Space...
novels. - Victor KomanVictor KomanVictor Koman is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and agorist. A three time winner of the Prometheus Award, Koman is mainly popular in the libertarian community. He is the owner of the publishing house ....
in Kings of the High FrontierKings of the High FrontierKings of the High Frontier is a hard science fiction novel by Victor Koman, first published in 1996.-Summary:The story is a polemic about NASA. The thesis is that NASA, far from helping space exploration, actually prevents it from going forth...
. - Kim Stanley RobinsonKim Stanley RobinsonKim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the fifteen years of research...
used suits called "Walkers" that work on a similar principle for Martian surface exploration in the Mars TrilogyMars trilogyThe Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two centuries...
novels. - Roger LeloupRoger LeloupRoger Leloup is a Belgian comic strip artist, novelist, and a former collaborator of Hergé. He is most famous for the Yoko Tsuno comic series.- Biography :...
in the adventures of Yoko TsunoYoko TsunoYoko Tsuno is a comic book series created by the Belgian writer Roger Leloup published by Dupuis and in Spirou since its debut in 1970. Through twenty-five volumes, the series tell the adventures of Yoko Tsuno, a female electrical engineer of Japanese origin surrounded by her close friends, Vic... - In Spider and Jeanne Robinson's novel Stardance (1979) they played a significant role.
- Skinsuits feature rather prominently in the HonorverseHonorverseThe Honorverse refers to the military science fiction book series and sub-series created by David Weber and published by Baen Books. The series is set primarily after Honor Harrington's October 1, 3961, birth; although she is the protagonist in most of the stories, more recent entries make only...
books by David WeberDavid WeberDavid Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Weber and his wife Sharon live in Greenville, South Carolina with their three children and "a passel of dogs"....
. - In EA Games's Dead space series, Engineers and miners use an airtight suit called a RIG when working in the vacuumVacuumIn everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in...
of space or an otherwise unsafe environment. - In L. Neil SmithL. Neil SmithL. Neil Smith , also known to readers and fans as El Neil, is a libertarian science fiction author and political activist. He was born on May 12, 1946 in Denver...
's novel The Venus Belt, the protagonist describes in some detail a skin-tight Smartsuit which is capable of furnishing not only life support in various types of hostile environments, but also limited medical treatment for the wearer. The suit also functions as a powerful wearable computerWearable computerWearable computers are miniature electronic devices that are worn by the bearer under, with or on top of clothing. This class of wearable technology has been developed for general or special purpose information technologies and media development...
, with the circuitry, displays, and controls integrated into the fabric of the suit. In the novel, the suit is, as a matter of tradition, included in the price of a space-liner ticket to Ceres. The character notes that a properly fitted Smartsuit leaves the wearer feeling "completely naked...a testament to the makers' art." Most spacefarers live in their Smartsuits for indefinite periods, as the suit can handle waste management and hygiene for the wearer.
Symbiotes
Spider and Jeanne Robinson's novel StarseedStarseed
Starseeds, also called sailseeds, are a fictional life form in the Known Space science fiction series by Larry Niven. These large "seeds" travel through interstellar space...
(the second volume of their Stardance
Stardance
Stardance is a science fiction novel by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson, published by Dial Press in 1979 as part of its Quantum science fiction line...
trilogy) and John Varley
John Varley (author)
John Herbert Varley is an American science fiction author.-Biography:Varley grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, moved to Port Arthur in 1957, and graduated from Nederland High School. He went to Michigan State University on a National Merit Scholarship because, of the schools that he could afford, it...
's short story Equinoctial (from his collection Picnic on Nearside) both feature alien
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
symbiotes which act as living space suits, supplying their wearer with oxygen and recycling waste gases and deriving their energy from solar power
Solar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
. James Blish's 'How Beautiful With Banners' features a spacesuit formed from the protein coat of a genetically-modified virus. The suit is able to be controlled by small electrical impulses, supplied by a control box mounted on the wearer's belt.
Space fiction without prominent use of spacesuits
In some space fiction, space suits are largely absent. Spacesuits are rarely seen in the original Star TrekStar Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
TV series (1966–1969), mostly due to television budget constraints. They play a more significant part in several of the movies- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the first film based on the Star Trek television series. The film is set in the twenty-third century, when a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V'Ger approaches the Earth,...
(1979), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the second feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise. The plot features James T...
(1982), Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact is the eighth feature film in the Star Trek science fiction franchise, released in November 1996, by Paramount Pictures. First Contact is the first film in the franchise to feature no cast members from the original Star Trek television series of the 1960s...
(1996)- and several episodes of the TV series Star Trek Voyager (1995–2001). Space suits are far more frequently used in the prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
series Star Trek Enterprise (2001–2005), though they also doubled as environmental-hazard suits.
Spacesuits appear in all the original Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
movies, but only used by pilots of fighter
Starfighter
"Starfighter" is a science fiction term used to describe small, fast, usually one-manned craft designed for armed combat .The appearance and use of fictional starfighters is often modeled on fighter aircraft, with little regard for the actual physics of spaceflight...
-type spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
. Spacesuits used outside spacecraft occur in some Star Wars novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s and comics.
Force fields instead of spacesuits
Some fiction scenarios, instead of spacesuits, have a personal force field which keeps a bubble of breathable atmosphere around the user. Examples are:- The Flickinger field in Jack McDevittJack McDevittJack McDevitt is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology....
's fiction: A Flickinger field projects just above the user's clothing except for an extended bubble in front of the face for breathability. They are primarily invisible but can be seen as a faint aura in the right light. It occurs in the novels The Engines of God, Deepsix, Chindi, Omega, and Odyssey, and the short story "Oculus" (2002). - John Varley'sJohn Varley (author)John Herbert Varley is an American science fiction author.-Biography:Varley grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, moved to Port Arthur in 1957, and graduated from Nederland High School. He went to Michigan State University on a National Merit Scholarship because, of the schools that he could afford, it...
novels The Ophiuchi HotlineThe Ophiuchi HotlineThe Ophiuchi Hotline is a Locus nominated 1977 science fiction novel by John Varley. It opens in the year 2618.-Background to the author's work:...
, Steel BeachSteel BeachSteel Beach is a novel by John Varley, a science fiction writer who has won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards multiple times. Steel Beach is set in the same continuity as The Golden Globe, but takes place much earlier, and was published in 1993....
and The Golden GlobeThe Golden GlobeThe Golden Globe is a Locus nominated novel by John Varley, a science fiction writer who has won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards multiple times...
feature 'null-field' suits whose mechanism replaces one of the user's lungLungThe lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...
s and in use generates a reflective force-field around the wearer. - There is an example in the Star Trek: The Animated SeriesStar Trek: The Animated SeriesStar Trek: The Animated Series is an animated science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe following the events of Star Trek: The Original Series of the 1960s...
episode "The Slaver Weapon". - The bubble around the boys' spacecraft in ExplorersExplorers (film)Explorers is a 1985 family-oriented science-fiction fantasy film written by Eric Luke and directed by Joe Dante. It was the first feature film for both Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix.It was filmed in 70mm color with 6-track sound, and runs for 109 minutes...
. - The Vell-os in Escape Velocity NovaEscape Velocity NovaEscape Velocity Nova is a computer game by Ambrosia Software, in collaboration with ATMOS. It is the third game in the Escape Velocity series of space trading & combat games.-History and development:...
use telekinesis to hold bubbles of pressurised air around them to traverse space.
External links to other fictional spacesuits
- http://www.walterklassen.com/images/propscans/image/spacesuit.jpg http://www.walterklassen.com/images/propscans/image/spacesuit%20helmet%20back.jpg in the Jason XJason XJason X is a 2002 science fiction horror slasher film directed by James Isaac. It is the tenth in the Friday the 13th film series and stars Kane Hodder as the undead mass murderer Jason Voorhees, the film made $16,951,798 worldwide with a budget of $14 million...
scenario
- http://users.keyway.net/~thalek/Tholian.html Fan-made replica of the spacesuit from Star TrekStar TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
episode "The Tholian Web" - http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/gallery/s2_08-09gallery/1024/planet_surface.jpg Film prop spacesuit from Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
series - http://homepages.tesco.net/d.sisson/suit.htm About restoring a Space: 1999Space: 1999Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
film prop spacesuit
See also
- 'Spacesuit' entry on the Star Trek Wiki
- 'Spacesuit' entry on the Star Wars Wiki
- Atomic Rocket: Spacesuits: descriptions and many images of fictional spacesuits